(RTTNews) - Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez gave an interview on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday, where he discussed trade and a potential bailout of the auto industry.

“I think one of the big challenges that a new Secretary of Commerce will have is to convince constituents, convince congress that trade is important,” Gutierrez said. “Right now there is a sense that we may — that it would be better to back away a bit, that maybe not doing so much trade.”

He said the US was “falling behind in terms of our ability to access markets to open up markets, versus other countries,” and that both Europe and China have “more free trade agreements than we do.”

Gutierrez stated he believed it will be a “very key challenge for the next Secretary of Commerce to convince everyone that trade is for the good of our country and that we can’t afford to stand still, we’ve got to push forward.”

The secretary called the auto industry an “important industry.” He said it held “a lot of jobs” and was an “important part of our manufacturing base.”

He said the auto companies should “show viability” since neither Republicans or Democrats would want to put “taxpayers’ money into a company that isn’t viable.”

Gutierrez argued that the administration was looking for the companies to show they are on “a path to viability. Show us how you would get there. Show us how you would make your costs competitive.”

In terms of a potential bailout of the industry, Gutierrez said, “We are proposing to take the money from a bill that has already been approved for the auto industry.we don’t think it is a good idea to go into the financial rescue package that was intended exclusively for the financial industry and start opening up that package for other industries.”

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Economy, Eurozone, Releases, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email